It has been known that proteins whose molecular weights are too low to be rejected by conventional techniques of blood dialysis occur in blood of patients with renal insufficiency who are receiving dialysis treatment. Among these proteins are .beta..sub.2 microglobulins (hereinafter abbreviated as .beta..sub.2 MG) which is one of the causatives of amyloidosis that frequently occurs in subjects receiving dialysis over a prolonged period and removal of this substance is important for successful treatment of renal insufficiency.
Heretofore, various techniques of blood purification have been employed as the principal means of treating patients with renal insufficiency and they include hemodialysis, blood filtration, blood filtration/dialysis, protein permeating filtration/dialysis, sustained extraneous peritoneum dialysis, blood adsorption therapy with activated carbon, and plasma exchange. However, the clearance or reject ratio of .beta..sub.2 MG that can be attained by each of these methods is less than 50% and no significant drop of blood .beta..sub.2 MG levels can be expected.
Therefore, it is strongly desired in clinical fields to develop a higher-performance .beta..sub.2 MG adsorbent and establish an efficient method of blood purification by using such an adsorbent in blood adsorption therapy which is one of the techniques of blood purification.